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Issue: May, 1994 (see author's note, below)

Author's Note: Again, I take the liberty of including, for the sake of continuity, a second article of mine which was published in the magazine Iqra, but not in the printed version of the Sonoma County Free Press (see A Glorious Peace?). The massacre of Palestinian men and boys at prayer at Al Aqsa Mosque in Hebron by an Israeli soldier tore the very thin veneer of civilization from the perception of the Settler Movement in Israel. Ultimately it didn't matter much in the grander scheme of things. Nothing changed, and the brutal occupation and theft of Palestinian land continued apace. M.T. 5/94

FOR THOSE WHO THOUGHT "THE HANDSHAKE" IN SEPTEMBER PRESAGED PEACE and some measure of justice in Palestine, the aftermath of the Hebron massacre was a wake-up call. For those more cynical about Israel's intentions (and those of the US.—it is difficult to tell the difference between the two anymore, except when the US. is more ferociously pro-Israel than Israel itself), the massacre was an unnecessary confirmation of our worst fears.

But hope springs eternal. After Baruch Goldstein walked into the Ibrahim Mosque and murdered more than 30 people at prayer with the help of passive (or, some say, not so passive) Israeli soldiers "guarding" the mosque, it appeared the true picture of Israel's brutal occupation of Palestine would emerge at long last, and that Israel might now have to deal honestly with the Palestinians, if only because of international disgust.

We were soon disabused of that notion, as the Israeli response made it clear that they would continue on their murderous course, and global response made it clear that they would be allowed to do so. The response—a spoken apology, a stated determination to "make it up" to Palestinians by disarming the more violent settlers, and to release 1000 prisoners. Then they put an entire people under crippling house arrest (and shot them when they raised their voices in outrage), took a few weapons from three or four settlers, and released a tiny number of prisoners, all at the end of their sentences. Still remaining in Israeli prisons are thousands of Palestinian men and women who have not been charged with crime, but are being held in "administrative detention" for long periods of time simply to remove them from active resistance. Still heavily armed are tens of thousands of zealous ideological settlers, for whom an Arab life is worth less than "a fingernail", in the words of Israeli Rabbi Yaakov Perrin.

. . . the actions of the settlers suit the government well. Settlers are doing what the government wants, intends, but cannot do to Palestinians and take land that even the government cannot take. Settlers are a necessary ingredient in Israel's plan to make life so miserable for the Palestinians that they will settle for nearly anything just to end the agony.

In the weeks since the massacre, Israel and the US have attempted quite publicly to bring the PLO "back to the table." Astoundingly, they came—or at least Arafat did. Consider this surrealistic scene: even as the PLO "negotiated" with Israel to revive the talks, on March 22-23, the Israeli military was conducting what a Palestinian human rights organization called "the largest and most violent operation conducted in the occupied territories since the early 1970's". They conducted a 30-hour bombardment in which four Palestinian activists and two Palestinian women were killed (a 33 year old pregnant mother of five, and a 21 year old woman, both shot as they stood in their homes); invaded a pediatric hospital and used it as a staging post from which to bomb the house where activists were hiding; destroyed four Arab homes; closed the entire Hebron area, already crippled by a 28 day curfew. On the second day of this operation, Chief PLO negotiator Nabil Sha'ath said that the talks were "going well". Two days later, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the press that "a positive, more favorable atmosphere prevails now between Israel and the Palestinians".

As if that weren't enough, the disarray within the PLO becomes more crippling every day, and Yassir Arafat's shocking and nearly frantic give-away of Palestinian rights and aspirations distances him further and further from his base of support. The Israelis are eager to exploit this amazing turn of events. They continue to concede nothing, yet receive constant reassurances that their security will be guaranteed while security for Palestinians is not discussed. They concede nothing, yet reach agreement that settlements can stay in Gaza, and Jericho is defined as a tiny bantustan. Israeli troops stay in Palestine, and Palestinians will once again do the work of policing the occupied for the occupier. In the accord signed in Cairo at the beginning of May, Arafat agreed that if the newly designated Palestinian Authority is unable to prevent attacks against Israelis, Israel may take all measures necessary, including sending in military forces, until hostilities cease or the threat is eliminated. There is no corresponding provision to protect Palestinians against Israeli attack, military or civilian. In fact, to date, the Israeli policy of not shooting at Jewish Israelis, regardless their actions, is still in place. And under no circumstances will the Palestinian police be allowed to shoot at settlers.

Even as that accord was signed in Cairo on May 4, Jewish settlers seized the synagogue at Jericho and proclaimed that the self-rule accord is null and void. The Israeli government expresses concern about and even fear of the settlers. Yet the actions of the settlers suit the government well. Settlers are doing what the government wants, intends, but cannot do—terrorize Palestinians and take land that even the government cannot take. Settlers are a necessary ingredient in Israel's plan to make life so miserable for the Palestinians that they will settle for nearly anything just to end the agony.

But if Israel really doesn't want to make peace with the Palestinians, why is it happening at all? Let us stand back, and take a longer look. The peace accords (Madrid and Oslo) were prompted primarily by the sidelining during the Gulf War of America's principle Middle East deputy sheriff. If Israel joined the war against Iraq, most of the Arab states could not. It is for this reason that the US. brought pressure on Israel to negotiate with a conveniently obsequious and compliant Yassir Arafat—for the sake of a unified, class-based multi-national military force in that vital area. (This is the resurrection of the Iran-Israel deputy sheriff alliance so ignominiously interrupted by the overthrow of the Shah. The move has already paid off. In mid-April, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain recognized Israel). At the same time, Israel, in order to survive economically, must have the billions of dollars in aid it receives from the United States. Thus its willingness to comply.

And comply it does, but to the least extent possible, for Israel believes it needs the water from the Jordan, Litani, Wazzani and Hasbani Rivers, and is determined to keep its settlers in place in Palestine to retain access to this water and to justify its theft. Final negotiations will not find Israel abandoning access to these waters in the West Bank, occupied southern Lebanon or the Golan Heights! Add to this perceived need the ideology of Greater Israel—from the Nile to the Euphrates—truly believed by a number of Israeli leaders, and truly useful to the militaristic aims of others), and you have a picture of an intransigent nation, willing to do only the minimum necessary to ensure a flow of American dollars into its struggling economy. And thanks to the power of the pro-Israel Lobby both in the Administration and as Congressional lobbyists, they can get away with a bare minimum. (If there were ever any doubt about the US Congress' position, consider this—after the massacre, 82 US Senators sent a letter to President, not to condemn the massacre, but to demand that the US. not surrender Israel's "right" to Jerusalem!)

How can we fight this seemingly inevitable destruction of all hope for a Palestinian state, this cruel and abhorrent situation which we, as taxpayers in the United States, are supporting? Edward Said in the US and Haider Abdul-Shafi in Palestine have called on the Palestinian people, in Palestine and in the diaspora, to "Rally and Resist". In the United States, we—Arab and non-Arab, Muslim and non-Muslim—have one sure avenue open at this time. It's an avenue that many have been discouraged from using over the decades of the occupation because those whose first loyalty is to Israel have said that we must not raise this one issue. They said it would be divisive or even racist, and many listened to that warning. The intent behind those warnings is clearer now, and we must chart our own course&emdash;we must call for an end to aid for Israel.

We must demand that aid to Israel be stopped, at least until that nation ends its illegal occupation of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, removes troops from those areas, pays reparations to the inhabitants who have suffered so at their hands. We must demand that the additional millions of tax dollars lost to this country through tax deductible donations to right-wing Israeli settlements be returned to the general fund to pay for health care, housing, schools, highways in this country. Pie in the sky? Of course it is. Unless we are determined enough to organize behind it, write about it, shout about it. Unless we are unafraid of the pro-Israel lobby. Unless we let Congressional representatives know that we will not contribute to their campaigns or vote for them unless they call for an end to that aid. Unless we ally ourselves with other communities such as the African-American and Irish-American, who understand the effects of Apartheid and colonialism. Unless we are willing to stand up to bullies.

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